Devices and methods configured for automated duplication of network shared folders

ABSTRACT

A network attached storage may comprise one or more storage devices; a network interface configured to couple to a local area network; a share folder and a processor. The processor may be configured to auto-initiate an identification of at least one other similarly-configured network attached storage coupled to the local area network; monitor contents of the share folder to determine a presence of or a change to at least one item therein, and upon determining at least one of the presence of and the change to the at least one item in the monitored share folder, copying the item(s) to the identified network attached storage(s) over the local area network.

BACKGROUND

Our daily lives are increasingly chronicled in digital form. Theproliferation and increasing size of personal and financial files,digital images, audio and video leads users to spend an inordinateamount of time storing, managing, safeguarding and moving files anddirectories not only on internal storage within their personal computer,but also on external storage devices. The external storage device,however, may constitute a single source of failure, and the user'svaluable data is susceptible to loss should the external storage devicefail.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a local network comprising conventionalstorage devices coupled thereto.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a local area network comprising networkattached storage according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a timeline illustrating aspects of a method according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating aspects of a network attachedstorage according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows aspects of an exemplary user interface, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 7 shows further aspects of an exemplary user interface, accordingto one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a local network comprising conventionalstorage devices coupled thereto. As shown therein, a local network 102may comprise computing devices 104, 106 that are coupled to an externalnetwork 702 (such as the Internet, for example) through a router 108.External storage device 110 may be coupled to computing device 104directly or may be a network attached storage (NAS) coupled to therouter 108. Similarly, external storage device 112 may be coupled tocomputing device 106 directly or may also be a NAS coupled to the router108.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, external storage device 110 stores files 11,12 and 13 in directory DIR 1. Similarly, external storage device 112stores files 21, 22 and 23 in directory DIR 2. Conventionally, tosafeguard files 11, 12 and 13 on external storage device 110, the userwould have to manually copy these files, create a directory on externalstorage device 112 and move the copied files 11, 12 and 13 therein. Thefiles may also be moved to an existing directory on external storagedevice 112. Similarly, to safeguard files 21, 22 and 23, the user wouldhave to manually copy these files, create a directory on externalstorage device 110 and move the copied files 21, 22 and 23 therein. Thefiles may also be moved to an existing directory on external storagedevice 110. However, such directories and files may change over time,sometimes frequently, thereby forcing the user to repeat the procedurefrequently to physically complete the transfer and to maintain at leastone duplicate copy of his or her files on another external storagedevice. Unfortunately, while such manual copying of files anddirectories avoids the single point of failure problem, such a procedureis not only tedious, but likely to be implemented only sporadically bythe user.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a local area network comprising networkattached storage, according to one embodiment. In the exemplaryenvironment shown in FIG. 2, computing devices 208, 210 may be coupledto a router 204 within a local area network (LAN) 206. First and secondNAS 212, 214 may also be coupled to the router 204 and may be availablefor data storage to the computing devices 208, 210. Within the presentcontext, it is to be understood that the terms “network attachedstorage” and “NAS” may comprise, within their scope, any device coupledto a LAN that is configured and available for data storage. As shown inthe example of FIG. 2, the file system of NAS 212 may comprise directory“DIR 1”, comprising files 11, 12 and 13, which originated from computingdevice 208. Likewise, the file system of NAS 214 may comprise directory“DIR 2”, comprising files 21, 22 and 23, which originated from computingdevice 210. According to one embodiment, each of the NAS 212, 214 maycomprise one or more storage devices (e.g., hard disk drives, solidstate drives or hybrids thereof) and a network interface that isconfigured to couple to the LAN 206.

As shown, NAS 212, according to one embodiment, may comprise a sharefolder 214. The share folder 214 may be configured, according to oneembodiment, such that when a file, directory or link is placed therein,the NAS 212 auto-initiates (e.g., on its own initiate, without userprompting or interaction) a copy of at least some of the contents of theshare folder to another NAS on the LAN. The share folder 214 may,according to one embodiment, be manufacturer pre-configured, whichfacilitates new NAS setup by the user, since the NAS can thenauto-initiate copying of files in this pre-configured share folder 214without additional user intervention. According to one embodiment, aNAS, such as NAS 212 in FIG. 1, may be configured to, upon its networkinterface coupling with the LAN 206, identify one or moresimilarly-configured NAS coupled to the LAN. In this case, the NAS 212may, upon being coupled to the LAN 206, identify similarly-configuredNAS 214. Herein, the phrase ‘similarly-configured NAS’ refers to a NASor other storage device that is configured according to at least some ofthe structures and functionalities shown and described herein. Accordingto one embodiment, the NAS 212 may then monitor the contents of theshare folder 214 to determine the presence of at least one (e.g., new)file, directory or link therein. According to one embodiment, upondetermining the presence of one or more files, directories and/or linksin the monitored share folder 214, the NAS 212 may copy the file(s),directory(ies) and/or link(s) (hereafter, collectively, “item(s)”) inthe share folder 214 to the identified similarly-configured NAS(s) overthe LAN 206. This may be carried out programmatically, without userinteraction, and without the NAS 212 being directed to copy the item(s)to the NAS 214 by any computing device, such as computing devices 208 or210 in FIG. 2. Indeed, this functionality may be carried out by one ormore background processes executed within the NAS 212 and/or within theNAS 214.

As shown in FIG. 2, the NAS 212 may be configured to create (or causeNAS 214 to create), if not already present, a destination folder 220 onthe NAS 214. This destination folder 220, in the example being developedin FIG. 2, is labeled as ShareFolder from S/N 12345. Indeed, each NAS,according to one embodiment, may be uniquely identified (by a serialnumber and/or a media access control (MAC) address, for example) on theLAN 206. Thus, in this example, NAS 212 is identified as NAS S/N 12345and NAS 214 is identified as NAS S/N 4567. Other identifiers may beused. The destination folder 220 in NAS 214, therefore, may be createdto receive the item(s) placed within the share folder 214 of the NAS212. Subdirectories may be created within the destination folder 220 asnecessary to store directories placed in the share folder 214 within NAS212. A graphical user interface (GUI) may be used, for example, toenable the user to designate or drag and drop, for example, item(s) intothe share folder 214.

As shown in FIG. 2, NAS 212 may also comprise a destination folder 218configured to accept item(s) originating from a share folder 216 of NAS214. This destination folder is shown in FIG. 2 as ShareFolder from S/N4567, the unique identifier of NAS 214. In this manner, whenever item(s)are placed (either by a user or programmatically) within share folder216 within NAS 214, such item(s) may be copied, without (any or further)user interaction or involvement, into the destination folder 218 of NAS212 (and into respective destination folders of other identifiedsimilarly-configured NASs, if present).

According to one embodiment, a first background process may execute onNAS 212. A similar background process may execute on NAS 214. Thesefirst background processes (e.g., daemons), may be configured to monitorthe contents of the respective share folders 214, 216 and to copy atleast some of the item(s) present therein to one or more destinationfolders 218, 220 and to the destination folders of other identifiedsimilarly-configured NASs coupled to the LAN 206, is such NASs arepresent. Such background processes may do so without user prompting,interaction or involvement. The monitoring of the share folder may becarried out periodically, at an interval determined programmatically oras determined by a user, through a suitable user interface. Thefrequency of monitoring need not be high, as once every five to tenminutes may prove to be ample. Other intervals may be implemented.Alternatively, according to one embodiment, the monitoring may beevent-driven. According to one embodiment, a second background processmay execute on NAS 212 and a similar second background process mayexecute on NAS 214. These second background processes may be configuredto identify all similarly-configured NAS(s) on the LAN 206. For example,one or more of the second background processes may broadcast a queryover the LAN 206. Those similarly-configured NAS(s) on the LAN 206responding to the broadcast query may then be the identified NAS(s) towhich item(s) present in share folder(s) may be copied. Querying andresponding NASs may then exchange sufficient information to enable thetransfer and storage of copied items such as capacity information,identifiers, addresses and file system information, for example.Destination folders may be created at this time. According to oneembodiment, the first and second background processes may be combinedinto a single background process or more than two background processesmay carry out the functionality shown and described herein.

According to one embodiment, NASs 212, 214 may be configured todiscriminate between newly-added item(s) placed in a share folder anditem(s) that were previously copied to the identified NASs. Therefore,NAS 212, 214 may be configured to copy only newly-added or otherwisechanged item(s) to the respective destination folders of the identifiedNASs. This prevents item(s) from being redundantly copied and reducestraffic on the LAN 206.

FIG. 3 is a timeline of a method according to one embodiment. As showntherein, NAS 212, Serial Number 12345, may store a number of files(File1, File2, . . . , File N) in a directory (OrigFolder), as shown at(1). The user may wish these files to be replicated to one or more otherNASs on the LAN, such as to NAS 214. To do so, according to oneembodiment, the user may, through a GUI (for example), drop these filesinto the share folder of NAS 212, as shown at (2). In FIG. 3, it isassumed that NAS 212 has already identified NAS 214, serial number 4567as another similarly-configured NAS coupled to the LAN 206. NAS 212 maythen monitor the contents of its share folder(s) to determine a presenceof item(s) or the presence of one or more changed items therein. Findingitems File1, File 2, . . . , File N in its share folder, NAS 212 maybegin copying File1, File 2, . . . , File N from its share folder to itsdestination folder in NAS 214. The destination folder of NAS 214, shownin FIG. 3 as “ShareFolder From S/N 12345”, may be initially empty, asshown at (3). Alternatively, other item(s) may already be presenttherein. The destination folder in NAS 214 may have been created at thetime at which NAS 212 initiated the copying of item(s) from its sharefolder or may have been created at the time NAS 212 identified NAS 214as a similarly-configured NAS on the LAN 206. As shown at (4), NAS 212may then begin sending the item(s) in its share folder(s) to itsdestination folder within NAS 214, which may then receive the sentitem(s) and store them in its destination folder for NAS 212. At (4),NAS 214 has received the first item; namely, File 1. At (5), the sharefolder of NAS 212 may be emptied of recently copied item(s), as shown.Alternatively, the item(s) placed in the share folder of NAS 212 maysimply stay there. As shown at (6), the destination folder of NAS 214has received all items placed in the share folder of NAS 212; namely,File1, File2, . . . , File N. In this manner, any new item(s) or anychanged item(s) placed or present in a share folder of a NAS coupled tothe LAN 206 may be duplicated, without user direction or interaction, inone or more destination folders of one or more similarly-configured NASsthat may also be coupled to the LAN 206. According to one embodiment,each NAS coupled to the local area network may comprise one or moredestination folders and a share folder. That is, each NAS coupled to theLAN may be both an item(s) originating NAS and a receiving ordestination NAS, thereby enabling efficient and unattended duplicationof item(s) over the LAN 206.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a NAS according to one embodiment. As notedabove, a network attached storage or NAS, within the present context,may comprise any device that is configured to store data and that isconfigured to couple to a LAN. Such NAS 400, according to oneembodiment, may comprise a storage device 406 that may be configured tostore data on one or more rotating magnetic disks 402, on one or morenon-volatile semiconductor memory devices 404 or on both magneticdisk(s) 402 and non-volatile semiconductor memory devices 404, assuggested at reference numeral 403. The NAS 400 may also comprise anetwork interface 408 such as, for example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB)interface, an Ethernet interface, Firewire interface and/or some otherwired or wireless network interface. The NAS 400, as shown in FIG. 4,may also comprise a processor 410 configured to read from and write tothe storage device 406 and to execute a method comprising a sequence offunctional blocks, instructions or steps, such as described herein andas shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method according to one embodiment. As showntherein, block B51 calls for a first NAS to couple, via its networkinterface, to a LAN, such as shown at 206 in FIG. 2, for example. BlockB52 calls for the first NAS to identify one or more second NASs coupledto the local area network. Such second NAS should besimilarly-configured as is the first NAS. That is, the identified secondNAS may be configured so as to have the same or a similar functionalityas does the first NAS. For example, the identified second NAS may,according to one embodiment, be configured to be identifiable as asimilarly-configured NAS by the first NAS and be configured to receiveitem(s) sent to it by the first NAS in a designated destination folder.As shown at B53, the first NAS may then monitor the contents of itsshare folder and to determine the presence of or changes to one or moreitem(s) therein. Thereafter, as shown at B54 in FIG. 5, when the firstNAS determined the presence of (e.g., new or changed) item(s) in themonitored share folder, these item(s) may then be copied to thedestination folder of the identified NAS over the LAN. According to oneembodiment, at least some of such functionality may be (e.g.,periodically) carried out by one or more background processes (e.g.,daemons) on the first and second NAS, without user intervention ordirection.

FIG. 6 shows aspects of an exemplary user interface 600, according toone embodiment. The user interface 600 may comprise, as shown in FIG. 6,some graphical representation 603 of the file directory structure of acomputing device. Moreover, the user interface 600 may enable a user toselect one or more item(s) for duplication on an identifiedsimilarly-configured NAS coupled to the LAN. In FIG. 6, the user hasbeen enabled to highlight, as shown at 602, a plurality of files anddirectories to be placed in the share folder. By clicking or otherwiseselecting the “Apply” button 604, as shown in the upper diagram of FIG.6, the selected items 602 may be placed in the NAS's share folder, asshown in the lower diagram of FIG. 6. Other selection mechanisms andgraphical devices may be employed to place item(s) in or designate itemsfor a share folder. For example, one or more items may be dragged anddropped into the share folder. Thereafter, as the NAS monitors the sharefolder and determines that new or changed items have been placedtherein, such new or changed items may be copied into one or moredestination folders of one or more other NASs coupled to the LAN.

FIG. 7 shows further aspects of an exemplary user interface, accordingto one embodiment. According to one embodiment, each NAS may compriseone, two or a greater number of share folders. As shown at FIG. 7, theuser may be presented with the opportunity to designate additional sharefolders, as shown at 702. This additional share folder or folders may beshare folders newly-created for this purpose or may be existing folders.Such folders designated as additional share folders may then bemonitored for new or changed items and the contents thereof selectivelycopied to one or more destination folders in one or moresimilarly-configured NASs as new items are placed in such designatedadditional share folder or as items therein are changed. In the exampledeveloped in FIG. 7, the Accounting2013 directory is designated, asshown at 706, as an additional share folder. According to oneembodiment, by designating a single file within a specified directory(such as file MailAndCalendarDataFile.mcd 704 in FIG. 7), only thedesignated file may be copied to one or more destination folders on oneor more NASs coupled to the local area network. This single file,instead of a share folder, may then be monitored. When such designatedand monitored file changes, as evidenced by a changed “last modified”date, a changed checksum, a changed size or some other changedparameter, the file may be copied to one or more destination folders onone or more similarly-configured NASs coupled to the LAN, withoutfurther user-direction or interaction.

Accordingly, valuable files may be safeguarded from the failure of asingle data storage device on the local area network in a manner that isreliable and transparent to the user. Moreover, such duplicated filesremain within the user's control and are not sent to some remote storagefacility over the Internet. While certain embodiments of the disclosurehave been described, these embodiments have been presented by way ofexample only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.Indeed, the novel methods, devices and systems described herein may beembodied in a variety of other forms. Furthermore, various omissions,substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systemsdescribed herein may be made without departing from the spirit of thedisclosure. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intendedto cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope andspirit of the disclosure. For example, those skilled in the art willappreciate that in various embodiments, the actual physical and logicalstructures may differ from those shown in the figures. Depending on theembodiment, certain steps described in the example above may be removed,others may be added. Also, the features and attributes of the specificembodiments disclosed above may be combined in different ways to formadditional embodiments, all of which fall within the scope of thepresent disclosure. Although the present disclosure provides certainpreferred embodiments and applications, other embodiments that areapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, including embodimentswhich do not provide all of the features and advantages set forthherein, are also within the scope of this disclosure. Accordingly, thescope of the present disclosure is intended to be defined only byreference to the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A network attached storage, comprising: atleast one storage device; a network interface configured to couple to alocal area network; a share folder stored in the at least one storagedevice; and a hardware processor coupled to the at least one storagedevice and the network interface, the hardware processor beingconfigured to execute instructions to, upon the network interface beingcoupled to the local area network: auto-initiate an identification ofother similarly-configured network attached storages coupled to thelocal area network, the identification comprising: broadcasting a queryover the local area network; and receiving responses to the broadcastedquery from identified first and second similarly-configured networkattached storages coupled to the local area network; monitor contents ofthe share folder to determine a presence of or a change to at least onefirst item therein; upon determining at least one of the presence of andthe change to the at least one first item in the monitored share folder,copy the at least one first item to a first destination folder in theidentified first similarly-configured network attached storage and copythe at least one first item to a second destination folder in theidentified second similarly-configured network attached storage over thelocal area network, the first and second destination folders beingconfigured to identify, and store items originating from, the networkattached storage from which the at least one first item is copied;receive, over the local area network, second and third items from theidentified first and second similarly-configured network attachedstorages, respectively; create, in the at least one storage device, athird destination folder configured to store items received from theidentified first similarly-configured network attached storage and afourth destination folder configured to store items received from theidentified second similarly-configured network attached storage, thefirst to fourth destination folders being different from one another;and store the received second item in the third destination folder andstore the received third item in the fourth destination folder.
 2. Thenetwork attached storage of claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to execute a first background process, the first backgroundprocess being configured to at least monitor the contents of the sharefolder and copy the at least one first item to the first destinationfolder in the identified first similarly-configured network attachedstorage without user interaction.
 3. The network attached storage ofclaim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to execute a secondbackground process, the second background process being configured toidentify the similarly-configured network attached storages without userinteraction.
 4. The network attached storage of claim 3, whereinbroadcasting the query over the local area network and receiving theresponses to the broadcasted query are performed by the secondbackground process.
 5. The network attached storage of claim 1, whereinthe processor is further configured to respond to a query from theidentified similarly-configured network attached storages.
 6. Thenetwork attached storage of claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to create the first destination folder in the identifiedfirst similarly-configured network attached storage.
 7. The networkattached storage of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configuredto: discriminate between newly-added items in the share folder and itemsthat were previously copied to the identified similarly-configurednetwork attached storages; and copy only the newly-added or changeditems to the first and second destination folders in the identifiedfirst and second similarly-configured network attached storages,respectively.
 8. The network attached storage of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is further configured to enable the identified firstsimilarly-configured network attached storage to create the thirddestination folder in the at least one storage device.
 9. The networkattached storage of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configuredto generate a user interface configured to enable user placement of theat least one first item into the share folder to be copied to the firstdestination folder in the identified first similarly-configured networkattached storage over the local area network.
 10. The network attachedstorage of claim 9, wherein the user interface is further configured toenable an identification of additional items to be monitored and copiedto the identified first similarly-configured network attached storageover the local area network upon the processor detecting a changethereto.
 11. The network attached storage of claim 1, wherein the sharefolder is manufacturer-pre-configured.
 12. The network attached storageof claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to perform theauto-initiation of the identification of the similarly-configurednetwork attached storages programmatically, without user intervention.13. The network attached storage of claim 1, wherein the at least onefirst item comprises at least one of a file, a directory, and a link.14. A method, comprising: coupling a network interface of a firstnetwork attached storage to a local area network; and upon the networkinterface of the first network attached storage being coupled to thelocal area network: auto-initiating an identification of othersimilarly-configured network attached storages coupled to the local areanetwork, the identification comprising: broadcasting a query over thelocal area network; and receiving responses to the broadcasted queryfrom the identified similarly-configured network attached storagescoupled to the local area network; monitoring contents of a share folderin the first network attached storage to determine a presence of or achange to at least one first item therein; upon determining at least oneof the presence of and the change to the at least one first item in themonitored share folder, copying the at least one first item to a firstdestination folder in a first identified similarly-configured networkattached storage and copying the at least one first item to a seconddestination folder in a second identified similarly-configured networkattached storage over the local area network, the first and seconddestination folders being configured to identify, and store itemsoriginating from, the first network attached storage from which the atleast one first item is copied; receiving, over the local area network,second and third items from the first and the second identifiedsimilarly-configured network attached storages, respectively; andstoring the received second item in the first network attached storagein a third destination folder configured to store items received fromthe first identified similarly-configured network attached storage andstoring the received third item in the first network attached storage ina fourth destination folder configured to store items received from thesecond identified similarly-configured network attached storage, thefirst to fourth destination folders being different from one another.15. The method of claim 14, wherein at least the monitoring and thecopying are configured to be performed by a first background processwithout user interaction.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein at leastthe auto-initiating of the identification of the first and secondidentified similarly-configured network attached storages coupled to thelocal area network is performed by a second background process withoutuser interaction.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein broadcasting thequery over the local area network and receiving the responses to thebroadcasted query is performed by the second background process.
 18. Themethod of claim 14, further comprising responding to a query from thefirst and second identified similarly-configured network attachedstorages.
 19. The method of claim 14, further comprising creating thefirst destination folder in the first identified similarly-configurednetwork attached storage and creating the second destination folder inthe second identified similarly-configured network attached storage. 20.The method of claim 14, further comprising: discriminating betweennewly-added items in the share folder and items that were previouslycopied to the identified similarly-configured network attached storages;and copying only the newly-added or changed items to the first andsecond destination folders in the first and second identifiedsimilarly-configured network attached storages, respectively.
 21. Themethod of claim 14, further comprising the second identifiedsimilarly-configured network attached storage creating the fourthdestination folder in the first network attached storage.
 22. The methodof claim 14, further comprising generating a user interface configuredto enable user placement of the at least one first item into the sharefolder to be copied to the first destination folder in the firstidentified similarly-configured network attached storage over the localarea network.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the user interface isfurther configured to enable an identification of additional items to bemonitored and copied to the first identified similarly-configurednetwork attached storage over the local area network upon detecting achange thereto.
 24. The method of claim 14, wherein the share folder ismanufacturer-pre-configured.
 25. The method of claim 14, wherein theauto-initiating of the identification of the similarly-configurednetwork attached storages is performed programmatically, without userintervention.
 26. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one firstitem comprises at least one of a file, a directory, and a link.